I first heard of this movie from the Phil Hartman sketch on Saturday Night Live. So even when I saw it, I knew the twist. Watching Soylent Green again as an adult, it’s really all built around Heston investigating the murder of a Soylent executive, and the only surprising revelation is the twist. The investigation takes him through this overpopulated world and the remnants of then-modern society that people preserved.
The 4K UHD showcases the green haze in the overpopulated streets of New York. It boasts deep shadow in the alleys at night and interiors, like the library stacks and deep into the Soylent factory. Yet it always maintains the ‘70s film grain.
Bonus features include several “making of” features from the ‘70s, capturing the retro feel. One is a party celebrating Edward G. Robinson’s 101st film.
Archival interviews include a 90 minute audio interview with Heston discussing his entire career, telling stories about each movie. Director Richard Fleischer is on camera for 75 minutes at the BFI, also going well beyond Soylent Green.
An archival commentary also features Fleischer and Leigh Taylor-Young. The new commentary with Michael Brooke and Johnny Mains discusses the political issue of overpopulation more deeply than the movie itself. To be fair, they have decades of further political experiments to cite.